My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger

Damon scoffed softly as guards dragged them away once more.

Pointless.

The entire trial had been theater.

Nothing more.

Soon they were thrown into a carriage.

This time they were not blindfolded.

The carriage moved through the city center toward the massive crystal tower.

When Damon looked up at it his expression shifted slightly.

The tower was complete now.

This was the exact same tower he had seen years later in the future.

The tower Valerie once lamented as the final conduit for the outsiders.

Eventually they entered a restricted area before descending underground rather than continuing upward into the tower itself.

Damon immediately recognized this place.

In the future this entire underground region would become a bottomless pit overflowing with corruption and monsters.

Creatures that had once been human.

Broken things.

Twisted things.

He tried to think of a plan.

Any plan.

But nothing came to mind.

Only overwhelming force could save them now and they possessed none.

Eventually they reached the very bottom of the tower, deep beneath its foundations.

The moment Damon stepped into the chamber his skin crawled violently.

The air itself felt wrong.

Heavy.

Countless distant wills lingered everywhere around them.

Watching.

Observing.

Outsiders.

They stared through the crystals surrounding the chamber searching for vessels to inhabit.

Two magical circles glowed brightly on the floor.

One beneath Damon.

One beneath Lilith.

The circles activated instantly.

Power surged upward and swallowed them whole.

That was the last thing Damon saw before he was dragged into the metaverse.

Inside this strange place countless wills rushed toward him all at once.

Each presence clawed at his mind trying to force its way into his body.

Some felt ancient.

Others monstrous.

All of them wanted control.

Damon fought back desperately.

The harder he resisted the more fragments of those beings embedded themselves into his soul.

Some were kind but still damaged him.

Some were evil leaving darkness festering inside his spirit.

Others were corrupted entirely, spreading rot through his soul like disease.

Damon convulsed violently.

Still he fought.

With sheer willpower he ripped himself free and reclaimed control of his body.

His eyes snapped open.

When he looked down at his arm he froze.

His skin had become sickly white.

Jagged pieces of bone protruded from beneath the flesh.

Whispers from unknown places screamed inside his head.

Beside him Lilith was still convulsing violently.

Damon immediately grabbed her and pulled her free by force.

Her body had become corrupted as well. Patches of flesh rotted visibly while strange markings spread across her skin.

Damon slowly raised his head.

The knights surrounding them merely watched with cold expressions.

“Another failure,” someone muttered dismissively. “Getting suitable vessels is becoming harder.”

It was the old man.

The judge.

The mastermind behind everything.

“Without support from the city lord it is difficult to create proper binary bodies,” he explained casually. “So I must resort to this. Finding suitable hosts.”

Lilith weakly opened her eyes.

Her voice came out raspy and broken.

“Why are you doing this…?”

The old man blinked before laughing.

“Why am I doing this? Are you fools?”

His eyes gleamed greedily.

“This is an opportunity. A chance to obtain knowledge from another world. To grasp Akasha itself. To reach gods beyond the Goddess of Doom.”

His tone grew bitter.

“The city lord sided with Mugu but restricted what kind of outsiders and knowledge could enter this city. Clearly he wants all the knowledge for himself.”

He sneered openly.

“So I met Mugu personally and he happily explained how this process works. After all knowledge is power and should be shared.”

“Hehhahaha…”

His laughter echoed throughout the chamber.

“My lifespan was nearly over. I never became a sage. But when I contacted the outsiders they showed me methods to extend my life.”

He spread his arms proudly.

“All I had to do was kill some useless child errors draining the city’s resources and provide unwanted people as vessels.”

His smile widened.

“A fair sacrifice.”

“The useless die so the whole may prosper.”

“It was all for science.”

“All for Lysithara.”

Damon slowly laughed.

The sound was cold.

“You’re insane,” he muttered. “But that’s fine too.”

Then he looked directly at the old man.

“I would’ve been doomed if you weren’t such a blabbermouth.”

The judge frowned slightly.

“Thank you for the information.”

The moment Damon finished speaking a tiny black dog suddenly sprinted forward holding a magical recording device inside its mouth.

Ashcroft.

“Maybe you didn’t realize it,” Damon said with a grin, “but my dog has been broadcasting everything.”

The judge merely nodded calmly.

“I see.”

Then he smiled faintly.

“But perhaps you didn’t realize this chamber contains signal interference.”

His expression darkened.

“Your broadcast cannot escape this place.”

Damon’s blood instantly ran cold.

Slowly he turned toward Ashcroft.

“I thought you said this plan was foolproof.”

The little dog growled while glancing toward the endless pit nearby filled with corrupted monsters.

Then toward the judge standing at the peak of the sixth class.

Finally Ashcroft shouted only one word.

“Jump!”

Damon did not hesitate even slightly.

He grabbed Lilith tightly—

And together they plunged into the bottomless pit below.

A look of genuine surprise appeared on the old man’s face when Damon and Lilith willingly leapt into the chasm.

For the first time since this entire ordeal began his calm composure cracked slightly.

Who in their right mind would willingly jump into the pit?

The abyss below was not merely deep. It was a graveyard of failed vessels, corrupted bodies, and broken souls. Countless experiments had been discarded there over the years. The creatures below were no longer human, if they ever still could be called that at all.

The old man had intended to throw them inside eventually anyway.

Yet instead of begging for mercy…

Instead of screaming…

Instead of clinging desperately to life…

They jumped willingly.

For a brief moment he stood silently near the edge of the pit while the cold wind rising from below blew against his robes.

Then he scoffed.

“Idiots.”

His voice echoed faintly through the underground chamber.

No one survived the chasm.

Not even sixth-class warriors could descend safely into that cursed depth. The corruption below consumed flesh, mana, mind, and soul alike. Those who entered either died immediately or transformed into horrific creatures driven only by instinct and pain.

As far as he was concerned Damon and Lilith were already dead.

The judge slowly turned away from the pit.

“Seal the chamber,” he ordered indifferently.

Knights immediately moved to obey while the massive gates surrounding the underground foundations began to close one after another with deafening metallic groans.

The old man clasped his hands behind his back.

“Futile,” he muttered softly.

Futile was their struggle.

Futile was their resistance.

No matter how much mortals screamed, fought, or rebelled the weak would always be crushed beneath the strong. That was the natural order of the world. Lysithara itself was built upon sacrifice whether its citizens wished to acknowledge it or not.

The old man had simply accepted reality sooner than others.